The Kinloch Hold Apostates
by the.rat.effect
Summary: "Magic is magic, it helped us before and it might later on."... "Your blood magic IS the reason why we needed to escape the Circle.". Set 6 years before the Blight. AU with many Warden candidates as extremely normal ?  adventurers.
1. The Escape

The Kinloch Hold's Circle Tower looked absolutely tall and intimidating, or that was what the smaller of the two fugitives thought as she was trying to swallow the new reality which was sprung upon her just a mere hour ago. She wondered absently as her friend was pulling her by the arm, how did 'normal' people view it? A prison? A horrifying tower with demons waiting for prey? Or merely an odd type of orphanage with a lot of special children inside it?

"Surana! We do not have time to gaze admiringly!" Her companion shrieked in his nervous rampage.

The elf, who preferred to be called Surana, glanced at her friend. The human had 'sweated like Cullen' as she would like saying and he seemed on the edge; her eyes slid to his sleeve, the blood didn't even look like blood anymore being clashed with the awful blue of his robe. Did that mean that they could return, saying that it never happened? That Jowan is not a blood mage? Finally her eyes settled on his eyes, light blue almost grey reminded her of mother's eyes.

"Did we just…" The elf said whispered. "…escape the tower?"

Jowan glanced at his friend. The usually arrogant, confident elf seemed so lost with one of her hands shakily holding some article of her apprentice robe. Even though they were looking at each other there was a glassy effect on her eyes, and a very disturbing emotionlessness on her face. Just like the day she had come to the Circle; all alone, not comprehending what, why or how things escalated to this point.

"Yes! Now let's get a move on before the templar's find a new boat." Jowan proceeded to pull her arm once again but the girl stood in her place.

"Did you…" This time her words were louder as well as shakier "…lie to me, no us about not being a blood mage?"

Jowan made a pained face and stood silent.

"I risked my life and so did Lily." The elven mage's tone was not angry; in fact it was indifferent, almost tranquil. "No, not only that I betrayed Irving for you, we believed you… believed that you did not deserve such a fate, that Greagoir was up to his foolish paranoia's again. And now look at us. Lily wouldn't even come with you, and I sure don't know why I followed you." Her eyes pinned down to his hand grabbing her wrist. "Did I even want to follow you I wonder?"

"Surana, I… I am so sorry. I thought that it would make me stronger, that I could be a better mage."

"Better." Surana still seemed unfocused.

"I thought that, against the templars I would need one thing they feared; just to ensure my future with Lily."

"And then you threw us to the wolves, all of us. Our phylactery might be broken but that doesn't mean that we won't get caught. And when we do I guess I will join you with being a tranquil Jowan." The girl took in a breath and finally she sneered at Jowan. "Nice planning."

Jowan silent again, a million thought passing through his mind, something or anything to say to the girl. But before he could mutter his thoughts a hand slapped him on his cheek.

"We trusted you Jowan!" Her hand stood up in the air. "How could you? And blood magic? Really? Did you lose the small amount of intellect you possessed? Why are you the one who always screws things up even though you are supposed to be more mature than I am? We will be hunted like animals! And when the hunt is over we will wish that they killed us!"

Well, Jowan thought dryly, at least she had gotten her wits about her; this was the Surana he knew; vibrant, unyielding and well, not always this panicked.

"I know! I made a mess of things but after all that was done I could not leave you there!" Jowan finally had found his voice back "Lily, she wouldn't come and you… you were just standing there like a statue. It is all my fault."

He left her wrist and buried his head into his palms.

"Enough!" Surana stomped her foot. "We need to get a move on, maybe escape Fereldan and hope that they won't expect us to be bold enough to. But be assured Jowan, this discussion is not over."

If Jowan had dared to look to her face, he would realize that she did not look angry at him, rather her face showed the perfect example of annoyance. But they had been together for eight years now and Jowan just could hear it in her words.

_You are an idiot my friend,__ but I will not leave you alone._

He did not raise his head as a very cold hand grasped his hand, so small but forceful. He did not raise his head as she nudged him and started to run. He finally rose his head when they were running, assuring himself that she was there; with him. And while he was assuring himself the girl looked back at him, giving a sad smile she promptly tripped on a tree root, sending herself down to the ground with the human she had been dragging along.

"Erm… maybe you should look ahead when you running?" Jowan suggested in a tiny voice as he got up pulling the elven girl up.

A glare found its way to him.

"I hate you." The now apostate said as she got up and dusting her apprentice robe in anger continued to walk hand in hand with her maleficar friend.

Jowan gave a small smile.

"I know."

-_-' -_-' -_-'

"So why didn't you just tell me the truth? I understand why you didn't tell it to Lily but I have been your friend ever since I was eight years old." Surana asked casually after they couldn't see Lake Calenhad anymore.

"And how was I supposed to tell the favorite of Irving, the star pupil of Kinloch Hold that her best friend was so incompetent that he has to resort to blood magic?" Jowan said sarcastically.

"Easy. 'Hey! You know what I am a Maker damned maleficar. Now let's head to dinner.' I can just imagine it, it's just like the type of thing you would do." She deadpanned.

Jowan sighed.

"What if I had told you and the word got out? You would be blamed too if you didn't tell it to the Templar's." He groaned. "And I just… you were always so busy, probably they would have taken you to the Harrowing soon enough. I just, maybe I didn't want you to know because I was ashamed. I don't know."

"You are a pickle brained oaf. You are my friend!" A small pale fist made its way to his shoulder. "You are like a brother to me Jowan, I wish… I wish you had trusted me a bit. Besides it doesn't matter anymore because I can imagine that they are not very fond of me anymore." Surana sighed exaggeratedly. "I did kind of help and really help a maleficar."

"I know, I know. I ruined everything! The poor stupid, useless Jowan; he can't even be a proper blood mage." Jowan huffed as he crossed his arms. "And great, magnificent Surana helps him in even this, such a saint you are!"

"Maybe just maybe if you concentrated on your studies rather than initiates' skirts and what's underneath them, you would not be in this situation." Surana spat.

Jowan glowered at the girl.

"Yes and also the almost constant loser in romance. Do you want to add anything more oh Great Surana?"

Surana opened her mouth, and closed, and repeated this movement a few times. Jowan had stopped his stride glaring at the elf in front of him.

"I am sorry that she left you." She finally said. "I had no right to poke my finger deeper into your wound." Then she suddenly held his left hand, placing her other hand on it. The knife wound Jowan had made disappeared in a low blue glow leaving only a scar. Jowan freed his hand and looked to the scar left on his hand with a raised brow.

"Surana I know that you can make the scar go away too." Jowan said and immediately regretted it, there she was following him after he betrayed here and here he was nagging like Wynne would after her healing lessons. Unexpectedly the elf gave a small albeit soft smile, tracing the scar with her finger she spoke in a calm yet teaching manner.

"I know, it's a small wound, but maybe you need a reminder. Blood magic corrupts demons corrupt." Letting out a bit of air she continued. "I won't leave you alone but don't expect me to stand still when you are turning yourself into an abomination. Whatever you lost today, it was because of blood magic, never forget that."

"And what return being a mediocre mage?" Jowan started to walk with a grim face. "I want to be strong."

"Then focus on your inner power, just don't tread lightly on the easy choice." Surana paced to catch up with him. "It isn't worth it Jowan."

"I wonder what we would do if I didn't use blood magic there. Do you really think we would be able to escape easily?" Jowan snorted rudely. "Magic is magic, it helped us before and it might later on."

"Jowan, I hate to prove your wrong." Surana said in a matter-of-fact tone her light grey eyes squinting. "Your blood magic IS the reason why we needed to escape the Circle."

Their somber march continued in silence for a few hours.

"Where are we going?" Jowan asked finally.

"To Denerim we can find a ship or whatever."

"Isn't Jader closer?"

"Is it?"

Jowan sighed.

"Right. I had forgotten that your map skills can only rival a 3 year old's." He muttered under his breath.

"I heard that." Surana growled to her friend. "Fine! What is your great plan this time?"

Jowan pulled out a scroll from his hip bag and presented it with a Taa-daa sound.

"Where did you find a map?" The elf's already

"Did you honestly think that I would try to escape without a map? I am not Anders." Jowan smirked remembering the other mage's escape attempts. "I bribed Sweeney to part with this lovely Thedas map. All I had to do was to set a Templar's skirt on fire."

Surana confusedly looked at the human, then to the map and in the end she gave out a loud laugh.

"You are an unpredictable man, my friend." She said when her laughter had finally died out. "You and Sweeney, wish we could bring him too. It would have been priceless."

"Yes us and Sweeney senile mage who likes lighting up the templar skirts, we would definitely be able to escape the templars." Jowan said sarcastically.

Surana smirked widely.

"So what is the plan?"

"We had planned with… we had planned to pass by Gherlen's Pass to Jader, then on the first boat and freedom..." He ended the sentence bitterly.

Suddenly the jovial mood has disappeared. Surana glancing at Jowan placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You know if you need a crying shoulder, for once only once, I'm here."

"I really messed up this time didn't I?" The apostate hanged his head low.

"Well, think it this way better now than later hmm? I'm sure that you will find a lovely girl with penchant for blood magic in no time." Realizing what she said Surana gave a nervous laugh. "I mean, ah maybe it was not meant to be?"

Jowan shook his head, trust Surana to botch even her own attempt of curing a broken heart.

"I guess it is a regret I have to live with." Said after a few minutes. "Added to the other regrets…"

"Let's just move away from the road and rest a bit shall we?" Surana started to move towards the woods surrounding the Imperial Highway. "Tomorrow, we will deal with everything tomorrow."

Jowan nodded silently and followed the elf to the woods. Tomorrow, his tomorrows didn't have Lily anymore but at least they belonged to him. He took a bitter comfort of that.

"Stop nodding to yourself Jowan." Surana's voice held a small amount of amusement.


	2. On the Run

The night went on quietly as Jowan took the first watch. First he tried to read something of Surana's, after a few reading positions to catch the light he left it as it is; now he knew why most of the travelers who came to the tower seemed so dumb. Then he tried to train a bit, and chickened out; what if a templar had been around to see the magic? In the end he decided that maybe, just maybe he needed to watch around since it was called watch. After a few moments, hours if you ask him, he got bored. He started to daydream, a bad habit of his, about a life in which everything was perfect. No templars to hound them, no mother to shoo him away as the 'demon child' and with a Lily, all accepting and lovable just like she was on the first day they had met. So lost in his fantasy of a utopia he shrieked once he felt a cold hand on his shoulder.

"Jowan! Jowan, it's me." A familiar voice muttered. "Stop screaming like a girl, just go to bed."

Surana. With her ruffled dark hair and puffy eyes had come to take the watch from him.

"Ah, yes. I do not scream like a girl." Jowan said lamely.

"Riight." Surana yawned. "And I am Andraste. Just go to rest, I'll wake you up at dawn."

With a dignified 'hmph' sound Jowan made his way to rest.

"Jowan?"

"What now?"

"We need clothes."

"What?" Jowan looked to the girl incredulously.

"We can't use our robes, they are too..." Surana closed her eyes in concentration "Magish?"

Jowan cursed under his breath.

"Alright, the thing is… I carried the rations because they were heavier and… Lily had the clothes."

Surana looked blankly at him.

"And we have no normal clothes?"

"We have our cloaks?"

"Yes, perfect… It is not suspicious at all." Surana sighed and moved to her bag.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for my sewing needle and other stuff. My mother used to be a tailor you know; I am not that bad with these kinds of things. I always repair my own clothes so I am not out of practice either… mostly." She made a small 'Aha!' as she took out a tiny package. "I will just have to make our clothes look less… magish."

"I have my night clothes." Jowan said defensively.

"Perfect pass them here I'll just improvise."

Jowan blanched; the last time Surana had 'improvised' they had ended up in Irving's office with an angry templar with a horrible welt problem glaring down at them.

"I can just… use them." He said trying to look less fearful.

"Then just give me your robe, I will try to make a jerkin and matching pants." Surana had already started to sew something out of her night dress.

"Are you sure you are able to do this? I would not want to impose..." Jowan said looking at his robe desolately.

"Jowan I am sleepy and moody so just give me that and go to sleep." Surana snapped at him.

Jowan looked at the woman who resembled an owl, rabid probably, and silently gave his robe going to his bedroll to sleep. He really dreaded the horror the morning would bring.

Surana woke Jowan up at dawn as promised, the clothes as she had said proudly were surprisingly not so bad; but as Jowan found out later they were very itchy. She had been able to make the jerkin and pants for him and for herself a very simple dress which she had commented that it 'did nothing at all to keep the cold out'.

"The only problem is," Surana said taking pride of her work "Our shoes. They are definitely not normal commoner type shoes, we need sturdy Fereldan boots."

Jowan nodded.

"They definitely look weird with these clothes."

Surana grimaced as she embraced her cloak fervently.

"Yes and I will have to buy something or I will freeze."

"Well breakfast is over let's gather camp and move on." Jowan said with a smile.

Surana did as he said with a weird calmness, at least if she moved around she felt a bit warmer. Together they finished their task and were on their way. A few days passed in a similar manner and in the middle of their fourth day they finally were able to see a village. The village didn't seem to have more than forty houses, but at least it didn't seem abandoned either.

"Well we found a village." Jowan huffed in pride. "See I told you that we would."

Surana gave a grin.

"We did! Now let's get some warm clothes and just leave it before we encounter any templars." The elf felt nervous almost paranoid.

"Come on Surana, just enjoy life a little."

"I will once we buy whatever we need to buy and leave, at once." Surana almost reprimanded herself, why would a templar be waiting for them there? That would have to mean that they were faster than them, how would that be… of course horses, templars were able to use horses. She made a small argument with herself, completely unable to realize that Jowan had grabbed her from her wrist and was guiding them to the village. Snapping out of her internal struggle she realized that they had already entered the village.

"Jowan!" She hissed "You do understand that we might be ambushed, or that they may have a chantry."

"If we continue on like this you will freeze, my manly parts will fall apart from scratching and we will have to eat tree barks." Jowan hissed back. "So get yourself together and stop acting like spoiled brat."

Surana glared at the man but then sighed.

"You are right. I'm sorry." She gritted out.

Finding clothes and 'sturdy boots' had been easy, thankful for the lazy enchanters they had enough money to afford them. Finally they entered a tavern all properly dressed. A somber silence greeted them as the people were drinking or minding their business. Surana quickly made her way to the landlady, leaving Jowan behind. Jowan ordered a mug of ale and seated himself comfortably, taking a sip he smiled widely; alcohol was prohibited in the tower and the ale even bitter tasted sweet. In a short time the mug was empty, Jowan glanced at Surana who had been in the middle of a bargaining, maybe another one would be fine.

"You! Murderers!" A voice bellowed. "I have finally caught up with you!"

Jowan jerked and turned to the man, who was speaking, his hands a blaze with fire. Only to realize that the man had been pointing the tip of his gauntlet to two elves who were wolfing down their food.

"A mage?" Someone shrieked from somewhere.

The next few seconds passed very quickly with most of the tavern patrons and landlady escaping while a few in their places; a nervous tavern wench frozen just next to Jowan, Surana with a murderous glare, the man confused and two defiant elves. And Jowan with burning hands.

"A mage and two murderers, the bounty I can collect is getting better." Finally the man said spitting on the ground.

"That is two mages you dimwitted ogre." Surana yelled as her hands started to glow softly.

This was probably when the wench had gathered her wits and ran out of the tavern screaming "MAGES!"

Also the time when the male of the elves sprang to the man two daggers ready to kill. The man barely found time to use his shield and took a step back with a curse. Jowan realizing that the man had not taken him into account whilst trying to protect himself from the daggers, let out the fire he had been holding back. The man was not scorched unfortunately but he gave out another curse as he dodged most of it and tried to find a place to take cover. A shard of ice pass through his shoulder wounding him slightly and the man leaped towards Surana, leaving his shield. The elf with the daggers did not allow him to get further as he slipped his feet, tripping him. With a loud crash he was on the ground and the elf, professionally Surana thought absently, plunged his daggers through his nape.

All four looked at each other as silence beckoned. The female elf ran to the side of the male one and held his arm.

"Darrian we have to leave before more come." She said almost begging.

Darrian looked at the mages; his amber eyes pinned on both of them and gave out a wide smile.

"Wanna come?" He said jovially. "We all seem to be on the wrong side of the law."

Jowan and Surana exchanged glances.

"We would appreciate company." Surana said hastily. "I am Surana, he is Jowan. We are apostates and we really need to get out of here before the templars come."

Darrian's smile grew even larger.

"I'm Darrian Tabris and this is my cousin Shianni." He said as he placed his daggers back. "Nice to meet you, now let's run."


	3. Memories on Hold

Warning: Some delicate wordings and situation were used. Thank you for favoriting, alerting and reviewing and sorry for being late; work as always consumed my time.

Edit: A lot of typos have been purged. -_-'

* * *

><p>Surana despite the quick and seemingly safe escape was not calm. Finding allies so fast and easy made the apostate more anxious than ever. Her eyes slid to Jowan who seemed very alright and then she mustered the courage to look at the other elves. Darrian, as he had introduced himself, was at the same height as she was; his copper colored hair and amber eyes were very distinct and in a way showed his relation to his companion, Shianni. The petite elf woman was voluptuous, unlike Surana who had been called 'straight as a wood' by some of the other apprentices, and different from Darrian she seemed to be a frowner. As the four continued on in silence the elven apostate could almost smell the supposedly nonexistent tension between the mages and the criminals.<p>

"So…" She found herself finally muttering something, anything. "What did you do to get a bounty hunter after you?"

Darrian's smile slipped of his face for a second as he stopped, only to show a raw hatred. Shianni holding his harm joined in his halt as Jowan gave her a look which clearly said _you just had to say something didn't you._

"Don't mind her." He said quickly. "She-"

"Oh do mind me; we do not know you at all. For all I know you could be some criminals who hope to sell us apostates so that you may return to whatever you were doing." Surana said acidly. "At the inn everything happened so sudden-"

"Do I remember wrong?" Darrian said cutting Surana's monologue.

"…What?" Surana said confused.

"I remember you accepting us as companions, in the inn." Darrian said as his generally calming smile turned into a grin. "Do I remember wrong?"

"No but-"

"So then you should trust us." The elf said patting the apostate on her shoulder. "You are right at some extend, but believe me even if we were to bring in all of the apostates in the world we would still be hunted."

Surana glared at the elf stubbornly.

"Look, suspecting us is all fine and nice but we need each other." Shianni's voice had a calming effect Surana had to admit. "We escaped barely with our lives and no one would risk their necks for a pair of fugitive elves; but no one would risk their necks for a pair of apostates either."

Jowan nodded.

"And suspecting the only people who decided not to give us to the templars seems hardly fair." The human apostate said in a chiding manner.

Surana grumbled.

"Why don't we rest for a bit." Darrian said looking around. "And tell each other why we are… criminals." He pointed a bit far to the left. "There, that is a place we can rest and be able to keep our eyes on the road."

"That close?" Surana looked at the man as if he had just called himself Andraste. "Its suicide, we need to get further away from the road."

"No, with a bit more braches and leaves we can actually make sure that no one can see us immediately and if we have someone to watch, then we can get rid of our pursuers easier. Besides getting too much into the woods means spending a lot of time to find the road back again."

"He could be right." Jowan said slowly. "We did lose the road a few times."

Surana paused and reconsidered, a small hand on her wrist made the mage jump with a yelp glaring at the owner of the hand, namely Shianni.

"Please, he always escaped to the forest out of Denerim. He knows what he is saying."

The elven apostate hated being proved wrong but this Shianni was not as defenseless as she seemed. While she obviously had no combat training she just knew what to say to a stranger she had just seen.

"Alright." She mumbled and gave a small sigh. "I am sorry, I… have never been out of the Tower ever since I was a child, it is affecting me more than it should."

Shianni squeezed her wrist a little, a friendly one Surana realized with confusion; wasn't she afraid of them?

"You know what; I have never been out of the Alienage ever." She gave a wink. "We are not so different."

Surana smiled weakly. In the front Darrian smirked to Jowan.

"Well that concludes this month's painful week eh?"

Jowan kept his snicker silent as Shianni wailed a 'Daaaarrrriiiaaannn!' and Surana as usual glared at him.

"Maybe we should just move to that place." Jowan said loudly.

Three heads nodded in unison and Darrian took the lead.

* * *

><p>Hiding their rest place had been easier than Surana's assumptions, after half an hour they were done. Next was to sleeping arrangements, and finally the food. Surana watched Shianni mesmerized as the petite elf cooked them a stew so delicious that elven apostate decided that every house needed a mini Shianni. After the food Darrian brought a bottle out into open.<p>

"I believe that we should make a toast after we tell our crimes." Although he had spoken in a dramatic tone, he gave out a grin which promised trouble.

"And I believe that we should start drinking it!" Shianni said, gracefully stealing the bottle from his hand.

"Why are you fighting over a bottle full of… drink?" Surana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Surana, I think it is one of those drinks." Jowan said with excitement. "You know the ones we steal from Wynne."

"Oh you mean it is an alcoholic beverage?" Surana said as her grey eyes widened.

"It's wine. Wine!" Darrian and Shianni acclaimed pointing at the bottle.

"And wine is an alcoholic beverage." Jowan said.

"Don't tell me that you never drank wine before?" Darrian seemed shocked.

"Did you think in the Circle, which nearly forbids every joy of life, they would be pleasant enough to give wine to the apprentices?" Surana said with dismay. "We had to steal from one of our Enchanters. So we never had anyone to ask what its name is, all we knew was that it is an alcoholic beverage."

Shianni made a small whimpering sound. "Oh Maker!" Winking at them she returned to her task of opening the bottle.

"So you start Surana and Jowan, why would you escape the tower, other than getting no booze?" Darrian said with a wide smile. "And don't worry, we are a tad hard to scare."

Jowan and Surana gave each other nervous glances.

"Well…" Surana started. "Everything begins with the Circle I guess."

Darrian raised a brow.

"No." Jowan shook his head. "No lies this time Surana. That is not the reason why the templars will hound us like the blight."

"Are you sure?" Surana's voice was small.

Jowan nodded and started telling everything as they happened. How he met Lily, how he turned into blood magic, how he deceived the ones closest to him and how their escape from the Circle concluded. Darrian and Shianni were attentive listeners, they did not cut in to add a remark or well, runaway as Surana expected them to.

"But being a maleficar… Surana says that it is a dark path to walk on. And I will do my best not to use it again." Jowan concluded their story.

"Is the Circle that bad?" Shianni asked in a curious, almost sad manner. "So bad that you needed to damn yourself?"

"The Circle is not bad when you do not know otherwise." Surana said placing her hand on Jowan's giving him a wan smile. "We are not allowed to have a family, communicate with our parents or siblings if they do not wish so, and most families want nothing to do with people cursed with magic. We eat at the same time, we sleep at the same time. Nothing was left to us to decide. Even worse templars, at least some of them, act like we own them. I have been lucky but some of the girls from my dorm were whisked away at night, only to return in the morning battered and bruised with slap marks and kiss marks."

Shianni took a breath in. Darrian hugged the petite elf quickly caressing her hair.

"What I meant was, yes the Circle is a place to learn but I would rather die than to send anyone there." Surana glanced at the elven pair "I am sorry, it appears that I said something wrong."

The petite elf let out a sob.

"No it is not your fault." Darrian said sadly. "I can understand, being trapped in a situation so horrible that you have no way out but to sin. We are not different. We come from Denerim's alienage, a place where you are considered lucky if you can get a house to put your head in. Shems treat us like we are vermin, just like all the rest of the people treat you mages."

"And even before we are taught to do house chores we are taught to be invisible to shems." Shianni said wiping her eyes. "We should tell them the truth cousin, all of it. They were honest with us."

Darrian nodded solemnly.

"We elves, however, are not discouraged of starting a family. I and my cousin Soris were to be wedded in fact, at the same day. Our fiancées came from Highever with some dowry our hahren and families gave." He continued on with his story explaining how a shem disturbed sme elves at the gate of the alienage, which ended with Shianni hitting the man who turned out to be the Arl of Denerim's son with a bottle. His voice got a grim tone when he told them about the wedding which had been cut short by the Arl of Denerim's son Vaughn. Shianni weakly told them how Vaughn took her and the other females including the brides to the prison, she started weeping when she shortly said that one of the guards killed Darrian's fiancé because she defied them. Darrian took over the story again this time told them with hatred how he cut down anyone armed in the palace until he reached Vaughn who had started to roughen Shianni up.

"The whole truth." Shianni said tears freely falling from her face. "When Darrian came in his eyes were burning, and I was…" Another sob, Surana kneeled to Shianni brushing away her tears.

"You don't have to tell, I understand." Surana had seen that exact posture, look at the faces of the girls who had been raped by templars. Extending her hand a bit she held the chin of the girl. "You should not be ashamed. It is their fault."

Jowan wisely kept silent and looked at Darrian, after he got an encouraging glance from him he spoke.

"Please tell me that you tore open that son of a bitch."

Darrian nodded.

"Aye I did. And we took all the women back to the alienage. But we knew that they would not rest if they could not find the 'murderer' of Vaughn." He spat. "So we decided that I would appear to be the bad guy and escape."

"But I could not let him leave alone." Shianni said holding Surana's hand tightly. "How could I leave my cousin alone, especially after he saved me, damning himself. So I followed him."

"And after a few weeks here we are." Darrian finished.

Jowan gave the elf an approving nod.

"That man certainly deserved it."

Shianni gave a shaky breath and smiled sadly.

"At any rate we should open this bottle." Her voice was shaky but Surana could see the strength in her eyes, this girl was defiant not to let what Vaughn did her ruin her life.

Surana letting go of Shianni sat next to her and motioned her to give the bottle. Poking the cork testily she murmured something and poked again, the cork fell into the bottle with plop sound.

"Do we have glasses?"

The innocent question made Shianni guffaw.

"No, silly we are on the run remember?"

"She is a bit daft isn't she?" Darrian asked Jowan.

"No, I think she attempted humor, just give Shianni the bottle. We will do this the Circle way."

"You mean one bottle and a few people?" Darrian grinned.

"Yes."

"I think that would be the alienage way." Shianni said her red eyes shining; she took the bottle from Surana and sipped a bit giving it back to Surana who followed her example.

After everyone had taken a few sips Surana held the bottle high.

"Then to freedom and the death of pigs!" She yelled with a too huge grin.

The others joined with her shout.

Darrian leaned over to Jowan with an amused expression.

"Let me guess, she is a lightweight?"

"Let's just hope that tomorrow we will be at the same color and have all body parts intact."

The elf laughed.

"I'm serious."


End file.
